The present invention relates to a method of inhibiting telephone calls in which subscriber status data indicating conference, business trip, vacation or other causes of absence is updatably registered to prevent the subscriber's telephone from being called in principle in his absence.
In conventional methods, a telephone associated with an incoming call, if not occupied, is called by an electronic switching unit, while if the telephone line is busy, an audible busy signal is sent to the calling party. In the case where a transfer service is provided on condition that the subscriber associated with an incoming call (called party) is busy on the line, fails to answer or is absent, on the other hand, a destination telephone is called.
Japanese Patent Application Nos. relating to the handling of incoming calls include JP-A-62-263743, JP-A-61-182356, JP-A-6120462, JP-A-60-130251, JP-A-55-52665, JP-A-54-32210, JP-A-59-122167, JP-A-58-6652, JP-A-56-111366, JP-A-55-52666, JP-A-62-24761, JP-A-61-154250 and JP-A-59-89063.
If an incoming call arrives for a telephone line which is not busy, the particular telephone line is called unconditionally. Nevertheless, the person answering the call may not always be a party wanted by the calling party. In such a case, the calling party, only after having spoken with the answerer, is able to determine that the wanted party can not be contacted thereby consuming valuable time. In the case where a transfer service is available, on the other hand, all calls are transferred to a destination line as long as transfer conditions are satisfied. Even when the calling party is willing to have a talk with the transfer origin, he cannot do so at an inconvenience to them.